Francesco’s Pizzeria in Mumbai flies boxed pizza to customer a mile away on roof of a skyscraper, with plans for airborne deliveries to be normal within four years

An Italian restaurant in India has stolen a march on the global chain Domino’s by delivering a pizza by drone in the heart of its commercial capital Mumbai.

The restaurant, Francesco’s Pizzeria flew the boxed pizza from its premises in Mumbai’s Lower Parel district to a customer just under a mile away on the roof of a skyscraper in the Worli business district.

According to Francesco’s chief executive, the restaurant was inspired by reports that the books internet retailer Amazon was planning to use drones to deliver books in remote areas and countries where deliveries might be dangerous.

But Domino’s, one of the world’s largest pizza delivery outlets, had also indicated plans to begin drone deliveries when it released footage of one of its “domicopter” drones delivering pizzas after a flight across fields.

Francescos appears to have gained an edge however with its delivery to a tower block through Mumbai’s urban jungle – the kind of setting most customers order pizza from.

A video posted on YouTube show the pizza being made and boxed in the restaurant before being attached to a tiny model aircraft with four mini-propellors which flies out through the doors, up above Mumbai youths playing cricket, along the city’s Arabian Sea front, through skyscrapers to the top of a tower block where its customer is waiting on the roof.

Mikhel Rajani, Francesco’s Pizzeria chief executive said the drone had cut delivery time to 10 minutes from 30 and he expects air-borne deliveries to be normal within four years.

“The delivery system now involves motorcycles, fuel costs, and salary for the delivery boys and often miss deadlines to deliver. Delivery using drones will not only economic but also eco-friendly”, he said.